In a Cage. With a Sister. In a Home Tour.

This one wasn't Daniel's idea, but he did follow through with and help his sister with her plan to climb in an extra large cat cage and play cats and giggle until the adults came into the room and had shocked reaction.

He loved doing this and said it was like a play house.
I said, "Good grief."

You Are a Boy. Lord Help Me.

I just looked out the window and saw you on your bike on the top of a six foot pile of snow. You wanted to coast down it like a hill. You went head over heels, face down in snow. It didn't seem to phase you, just confuse you.

I poked my head out door to see if it was your idea or your Dad's.
It was yours.
But he encourages you to find out what happened when you ride a bike from a cleared off sidewalk straight into snow bank.
You are two peas in a pod.

Daniel's First Wedding

An aunt and uncle celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary with a vow renewal, which we called a re-wedding at our house.  My family came up for this service and we dressed Daniel in one of his non-play clothes outfits.  He looked spiffy!

Going to this rewedding meant that he'd miss afternoon nap.  I braced for the worst.
He did well though and had to out of the sanctuary during the ceremony because he was talkative.  He wasn't unruly, just curious about the speakers, the flowers, the lights, the chairs...

After the ceremony, there was a little food party.  Daniel spotted the dessert table right away and really wanted to eat some of the cupcakes.  "Dee dee eak those flowger muffins!".
He also played with a second cousin, aged 4, and copied each silly idea she had.  He has a blast!

In that large head and underneath the scraggly hair is a very absorbent brain!

This was super exciting for him.

I brought along a newer toy he hadn't played with - an ATV with a man on top.  He really enjoyed it! He kept saying it was his Poppy on the four weeger.

I love the look of concentration on his face here!

He actually picked this shirt out when I bought it. I wanted to buy a green one, but he insisted on blue.  He rarely cares about his clothing, so I let him win.

Such a conspiring face! I can tell he's thinking of trouble/fun!

This photo makes him out to be a bit more calm than he was, but in truth he was the Good Boy everyone kept referring to him as.  He didn't run amuck (until the end), wasn't very noisy, and was pleasant.  No fits even without a nap and with too much sugar... hurray! Go Daniel!

Rock Throwing

Throwing rocks into a creek/pond/puddle is one of Daniel's favorite activities these days.  If he sees a body of water, his little hands begin searing for a rock to throw.  He and his dad do this together often, especially on hike nights. Here are some photos I took at RB State Park, just off Spring Brook Trail.

Photos from Winter Weather Event #4... aka, the Blizzard of 2011

During the first week of February, we had a Major Snow Event.   Our yard easily had 18 inches of snow, and the piles Dan made from shoveling the driveway were over 6 feet tall.   We were cooped up in the house for three days unable to drive anywhere, and DHH himself stayed in the home from Sunday afternoon (we went to a grocery store to get some milk and etc... WOW we weren't alone!) until the following Friday morning.  He was cooped up!  He wanted desperately to spend time with his shovel in the FOOF, but wind chills only let him do this two or three times.   Here are photos from some of those times.

This is the blizzard.  Windy.  See the bird who camped out under our grill?

This is drifted snow... it came right up to his window!  Easily 3 feet!

He REALLY wanted to open this door.  He kept tugging at the handle.   

The fire pit is buried.

This is after the major snow event.  Dan shoveled half of the drive, but it was covered again with 10 more inches by morning.

Daniel watched his dad shovel.  When he got the chance, he brought out his shovels, too.

It went to his waist!

Can you find Daniel!?

One of my favorites.

Here he is begging to stay outside.  The only way I could get him in was to promise HOT CHOCOLATE!

He didn't really like having snow on his shoes.  He whined about it.

Snow on his head!  And in his mouth!

What a helper.

As you can see from these photos, Daniel became more adventurous with his FOOF.  He wanted to touch it, taste it, and look at it.  He still did not want to walk in it (more like wade in it!), and he preferred to reach over into the snow piles from the safety of the pavement.  He also had practice enough to know to leave the hat and gloves ON this time, instead of shouting OFF!!

The snow from this storm finally all melted on February 18th... two weeks of very deep snow was fun to watch!